Chapter 11

Bellamy, Jane, and Finn walked back to TonDC with the Grounders. It was getting dark, and Lincoln and some others lit the road with torches. Bellamy was silent, thinking of a plan to help their friends. Jane slipped her fingers through his. He looked at her with a smile and squeezed her hand. Boy, he was glad she wasn't in that mountain. When they arrived at the Grounder Village, Finn joined Bellamy and Jane in their Hut, after Jane had taken Octavia back from the old woman. The baby was hungry and she breastfed her while they talked.

"What are you going to do?" Finn asked.

"First things first," Bellamy said. "We can't march on that mountain just the three of us."

"But what about Trikru?" Finn said. "I thought they would help us?"

Bellamy sighed. "Not without any men. And all ours are in that mountain. What we need right now is to find where the Ark landed, and if there are survivors. If yes, we can build a plan to take the Mountain. Our people have guns, and we need that to take Mount Weather."

"And if they all crashed?" Jane said softly.

Bellamy looked at her. "I hope they haven't. Because I don't know what we would do, then."

"Didn't you say there were other clans? Can't we build a whole army of Grounders to attack?" Finn suggested.

Bellamy shrugged. "I don't know. We're TriKru's allies. Not of the eleven other clans. I don't know if they would help us."

"Okay, so first things first," Jane said. "Tomorrow we go look for survivors of the Ark. We'll decide what to do once we know if there are survivors." She paused, looking at Finn and Bellamy in turn. "No use worrying about what we can't control."

Bellamy nodded. "You're right. It's late. We need to sleep right now. We leave at first light."

Finn nodded and stood to leave.

"Where are you going?" Jane asked.

"Finding a place to sleep outside."

"But why? We have a perfectly good hut with plenty of space and-"

"I wouldn't want to bother you," he said, declining her offer, his voice dripping with sarcasm, and went to lie down just outside their hut, on the ground.

Jane shot a pointed look at Bellamy. He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll go get him." He headed for the door and practically carried Finn back inside. "You sleep here," he ordered.

"What, you're going to kill me, too, if I don't obey?"

Bellamy's fists clenched at his sides.

"Finn, stop being a jerk," Jane said. "I know Clarke is out there, but there's nothing you can do about it right now. You need to sleep before we go."

Finn sighed and sat on a small mattress on the floor. He turned his back to Jane and Bellamy, and lay down on his side.

Bellamy slid under the covers next to Jane. It was past midnight already, and they needed to get some sleep. They both fell asleep quickly. Until Octavia started moving around and cooing, not wanting to sleep anymore. It woke Jane up. She sighed and got up. How long had she slept? One hour? Maybe two? She carefully got out of bed and took Octavia in her arms. She walked outside the hut and sat on a log around the fire in the center of the Village. She thought Octavia was hungry and tried to breastfeed her, but she didn't want to eat. She started to cry and Jane turned her around, so she would be facing the fire. The dancing flames helped soothe the little girl.

She heard steps behind her. She didn't recognize them as Bellamy's, though. She turned around and saw no one. Then she heard them again.

"Ai ne sen yu in," she said. (I can hear you)

A chuckle. Lincoln sat next to her. "Can't sleep?"

"She couldn't," Jane said. "I wish I could."

"I'm coming with you to look for your people."

"Why would you do that?"

He shrugged. "I know these grounds. You don't. And Indra wants me to tell her how many men and weapons you have. It'll help her decide if t's worth going against the Mountain."

Jane nodded. "Mochof," she said. (Thank you.)

"Pro," he answered. (You're welcome.)

They watched the flames dance in silence. On the horizon, the sky was slowly becoming pink. Dawn was coming, and they would have to get moving. Jane's head lolled to the side and fell on Lincoln's shoulder. She had fallen asleep. Lincoln smiled and didn't move.

When Bellamy woke up, the other side of the bed was cold. Jane and Octavia were gone. He didn't even bother to put his shirt on and pushed the curtain in the doorway away. He looked left and right, and then his gaze fell on her back. And her head on Lincoln's shoulder.

He walked to join them and stood in front of them.

"Explain," he said to Lincoln. Jane was deeply asleep, and didn't hear anything.

"The baby woke up a few hours after you went to bed. She didn't want to wake you up, so she came here. I joined her to keep her company and keep an eye on her. Not all of my people welcome you here. And then she fell asleep."

Bellamy wasn't happy with this explanation. But he didn't know if it was because she was sleeping on his shoulder or because Lincoln told him about some not welcoming them in their clan. He sat next to Jane and took Octavia in his arms.

That's what woke Jane up. She jumped and looked around her.

"It's okay, Jane," Bellamy said soothingly. "You fell asleep. I'm right here."

She rubbed her eyes and nodded. "We need to go," she said.

"Not yet," Lincoln said. "We wait another hour. The woods are still too dark to travel."

"You have another hour to sleep," Bellamy said to Jane. "Take it."

She nodded numbly and went back to the hut. The moment she lay down on her bed, sleep claimed her. An hour later, Bellamy woke Jane up. "I think O's hungry," he said sitting on the bed and giving her their baby girl.

"O?" Jane laughed. "Shorter than Octavia."

Bellamy smiled and Jane took her baby and breastfed her. it took another thirty minutes.

"Are we leaving anytime soon?" Finn asked, sticking his head in the doorway. "We're wasting daylight."

"Shut up, Finn." Bellamy shot him a look and Finn rolled his eyes.

"I'm almost done," Jane said. "Five minutes."

And true to her word, five minutes later, they were ready to go.

"Does anyone know where we're going?" Finn said.

"West from here," Lincoln said. "That's where most of the ship went down." They followed that direction for hours, stopping only to drink from the creek and eat dried deer Lincoln had taken. It was dusk when they finally arrived in front of an impressive metallic structure, lit from the inside and the outside with fires. They had started to build a fence.

"Oh, my God," Jane said. "It looks much bigger than from space."

"Yeah, and they're not wasting time. They're already building a fence," Bellamy noted.

"And they have a lot of guards," Finn said. "Better they not take us for Grounders and shoot us.

"Finn, we are Grounders," Jane said.

Finn shot her a look. "Let's go in," he said.

The four of them headed for the new camp made from a part of the Ark.

BANG.

Bellamy fell backwards, screaming.

"NO!" Jane screamed.

Soldiers from the Ark dropped on them, guns and flashlights trained on them, and took them all as prisoners. They were gagged and their hands tied up in their back. They let Jane carry baby Octavia, but they held her arms with such a strength that Jane thought she would drop her baby. Bellamy was half conscious, and they dragged him inside. Finn was the only one not dressed like a Grounder. He was still wearing the clothes the Ark sent him on Earth with, but he was covered in dirt and mud, and the Ark people didn't make the difference.

They were presented in front of Chancellor Kane. Finn was the first to be ungagged.

"Please," he said. "We're part of the hundred you sent to the ground!"

Chancellor Kane froze and eyed Finn and the others suspiciously. "Untie him," he ordered, pointing at Finn. "What's your name, son?"

"Finn Collins, Sir. We need help."

"Why?"

"Please untie the others. And he needs medical attention," he said pointing to Bellamy. He didn't say his name, though. From what Raven had said, they had been looking all over for Bellamy since he had killed Chancellor Jaha.

"Get Doctor Griffin," Chancellor Kane said to one of the soldiers.

Jane was still holding the bundle in her arms crying. Bellamy had been hit, and she was afraid he might die. Chancellor Kane stepped cautiously up to Jane and looked at the bundle in her arms.

"A baby?" He paused. "Wait, you're that girl who got illegally pregnant."

She nodded, still gagged.

"Take off her gag," he ordered just as Doctors Griffin and Jackson came running in. "What's your name, girl?"

"Jane Ferris," she said sobbing. "Please help him," she said, looking at Bellamy. "Your soldiers shot him."

"He's one of the hundred?" Kane asked.

Jane nodded.

"What about him?" he said, pointing at Lincoln. "He's too old to be one of the hundred."

"He's a friend of ours," Finn said. "Chancellor, we need your help. All the other kids you sent down here have been taken prisoners."

Kane frowned. "By whom?"

"The Mountainmen."

"And who is that?"

Finn looked helplessly to Lincoln. He had no idea who the Mountainmen were. Chancellor Kane ordered Lincoln to be ungagged and he asked him who those men were.

"Our biggest enemy, Sir," he said. "A lot of our people have been taken to the Mountain. We've never seen them again. Your kids need help. You have guns and so do they."

Kane and Lincoln looked at each other a long time. "Untie him," he ordered. The Doctors were already prepping an operation table to take the bullet out of Bellamy' shoulder. Baby Octavia was now crying, and Jane didn't know what to do.

"We'll help them," Kane said. "Do you have men of your own?" he asked Lincoln.

"We do."